Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do or do without!

I sort of really love that mantra. I can't say that I always live by it. Being a working mom makes me often err on the side of convenience. In this case however, I am happy to say that I made it work!

I have a pair of very lovely deep red patent leather mary janes that were unfortunately assaulted by the doggy that we tried to adopt about 6 months ago. He only got one, but boy did he do it up on that one. I love those shoes and have been really sad not to have them, so I decided that something must be done. I am a resourceful gal. I knew I could come up with something.

The first thing I did was cut off the chewed up patent leather on the heel of the trashed shoe (doggie also removed the tip on the heel). My first idea was to try duct tape painted to match. No pictures exist of this fail (because it was a FAIL). Then I got the idea to try ribbon. So I went to the craft store and what I found instead was this cool velveteen paper on the scrapbooking aisle. Almost perfect match! And it had this neat sort of rubbery backing that made it extra sturdy but also bendy.

First I removed the tip from the shoe that had one (more on that later). Then I cut strips of the velvet paper and craft glued them to the shoe. Once they dried, I trimmed to fit and then at a total loss for what to do with the tips, I first tried cutting materials from old shoes I don't wear anymore to fashion new matching tips (nope). Then I decided to cut black felt to fit. It looked great. I put three coats of craft glue on the felt to make it sturdy and maybe a little moisture-proof. I am really happy with the results. I haven't worn them yet. June gloom lurks in California and I think these will have to be shoes worn when there is no chance of showers. Will update when I wear them out.

Whoopee!